#WordlessWednesday - Here She Comes To Save The Day!

It's tough being a Super Hero but somebody has to do it!

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#30DayPaleoChallenge - Day 28 - Day 30

Where did the last three days go? I'm not sure but it really did fly. It's the end. The challenge is over and I made it. Using our point system I earned a total of 4 points. I didn't win the challenge but who cares because I finished. This is one of my lessons learned, I'm a finisher. Let me back track here a little bit.

Beef! It's what's for dinner.

Since I have been on the challenge my husband has made this yummy guacamole about five times.

This was the kid section at the beginning of the challenge!

They put a huge dent in it! This is good because I cleared this out and stuck it all in the pantry.

I cleared out all the cabinets! Partly because with my herniated disk I can't reach up high.

Nothing says reorganize your kitchen like, "You have a herniated disk and oh by the way there is a cyst on your kidney go have that checked out!" At least it's completely functional and prepared to cook just about anything.

According to all the various scales I had a 12 pound loss doing this challenge. I'm glad too because I haven't been able to get near the calorie burn that I have become accustomed too. My husband went from 265 to 189 with his cholesterol level. He eats a banana for breakfast & lunch and then eats what I cook for dinner. I'm not sure that is the healthiest way to go about it but it worked for him. What's next? I don't know. My trainer says to slowly add things back into my diet one by one to see how my body responds. I'm a little freaked out because I've been eating clean for so long now that I'm afraid of that one cookie. It could send my whole body into shock. It's going to be an interesting journey that is for sure. I never stopped craving sweets or thinking about baked goods. Some people rave about how it's gone but it never left for me. I had to make a conscious effort daily not to give in. Now that the challenge is over there is nothing standing between me and a Loft House cookie! We'll see what happens. I'm glad to have had the support of my gym Crossfit Unity and for all the support on Facebook. The members were amazing and all the recipes were an education in ingredients I had never hear of! There are some recipes that I will keep and some that will never cross my path again! Would I recommend the challenge? YES. It's one of the hardest challenges that I have faced so far on my fitness journey. It can be done and I believe that you will be healthier for trying it 30 days.

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#Mamavation Monday - MRI Says...

MRI results are in! Why is taking so long to heal? Herniated disk. That's right and even better I have had it since last year. So what? Well this means that most likely I was doing the #100 Day Burpee Challenge, Taebo, Running 5ks and 10ks and doing Crossfit while I had this. I don't want to dwell on how this was missed because I was being treated during this time. I feel like I did everything that I was suppose to, but you can't out stretch or out massage a herniated disk. So what's next? That's a great question. I'm going to have more traction sessions and then as a last resort we talk about surgery. This has been really hard news to hear but at least I know I'm not crazy. I plan to be out there kicking A$$! as my doctor says. Just one day at a time. I'm cleared for walking, swimming, stationary bike and upper body work. My trainer has a plan for me. I just have to take it slow because I really want to heal. Wish me luck ladies. In the meantime I'm cheering for all of you and your success! They also found a cyst on my kidney. Interesting. It's a lot to absorb in one day. I'm going to go rearrange my kitchen now.

We are into the last 2 days of  the 30 Day Paleo Challenge.

I feel like I have pretty much made it and I feel good about the success.
 
There are lots of questions that I have been asked.
Do you have more energy? I'm not sure because after purchasing that Fitbit Ultra and finding out that I'm averaging 2-4 hours of sleep per night I'm not the person to ask. I think if I could get more sleep I would feel great. Lately something switched in my body and I can't get enough water! It's all I drink. It's the craziest thing. 

Will you stay on it? I think that I will stay mostly on it. I'm not sure how to introduce foods back in to my diet or even if I want to. I'm not sure what my body is going to respond.

Still working on: Operation: Humpty Dumpty

Eating out:

Pomodorras

My Work Outs this past week-

1/23 Monday - Injured

1/24 Tuesday - Crossfit Super modified work out

1/25 Wednesday - Injured

1/26 Thursday - Injured

1/27 Friday - Injured

1/28 Saturday - Injured

1/29 Sunday -Injured

Scale Reading -Weighed in at the doctor's office at 160. If that were right it would be a 12 pound loss while on Paleo.

Stress Level -HIGH - Got the results of my MRI.

The UP side-I am super woman.

I'm changing up my video series this year. I'm going to try and provide you with exercises that will help your body while you are working out with your regularly scheduled work outs.

Stretching is important!

Be a good role model.

Need for fitness support? Join the "Sistahood". More great resources: The Y, Crossfit Training, Vitamins for your age group, RealAge.com

• The long term goal 37 pounds by the end of the year.
• The short term goal lose 3 lbs. per month. 
• January 172
• February
• March
• April
• May
• June
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November
• December

 
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5 Fingers of Thanks

 

1.) Thankful that I seem to be feeling better. Wish I could go out and play but it's not my time. I keep praying though.
2.) Thankful to be on Day 28 of the 30 Day Paleo Challenge.That's right! 2 days left...AMAZING
3.) Thankful that my little guy is so happy with his new Karate class.

Super Serious Karate Face

4.) Thankful to have purchased some awesome BBQ for a health benefit. Feels good to help.
5.) Thankful that our Mom's Meeting is this week and my new Fitbit Ultra. I love it.

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#30DayPaleoChallenge - Day 26 & 27

Loft House mini Valentine's Day cookies! I can explain. They were sent for a preschool party and these were the left overs. The teacher sent them back home with us. Goodness! I wanted to eat one so badly. I was getting a contact high just from all the sugar I could smell. It was enough to scare me into wondering what that would do to my stomach should I falter. The kids divided them up. They are learning to ration their treats because they know there won't be any more once it's gone. lol - They put them in a sandwich bag each and only eat a couple a day. Look at the good lessons they are learning with delayed gratification and all. Now for dinner using the Paleo method.

Mmmmm baked chicken legs with roasted broccoli and carrots! The veggies were good but if you take the skin off that chicken, it's bland city! The original recipe is here from Paleo Betty. Maybe the legs we used were too big because they were still raw after the recommended 45-50 minutes. I had to put them in another 20 minutes. I defaulted back to my love for lettuce wrap after mowing down my plate of veggies. The rest of the family ate it all up. Whoo Hoo!

Saturday mornings are a really fun time for breakfast at our house. We don't have to rush any where in the morning so we go BIG and stay home! This little guy is cooking up some Mice Melts from our seriously tattered Shrek cookbook that we won online about 4 years ago! It's an easy recipe.
Mice Melts
Slice English Muffins in half and toast them in the toaster.
Take 1 egg and whisk, add 1 cup grated cheese, salt, pepper and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.
Take your muffin half and put a piece of ham on it and add your cheese mixture.
Broil on Low or Medium until the cheese is golden brown. That's it!

 Here is my other little helper. She's buttering the blueberry pancakes! She's doing a great job!

This is my breakfast! It's a Blueberry Vanilla Protein Smoothie. I tried an almond and blueberry recipe that I found in Men's Health magazine but I didn't like it so I tweaked it into this yummy goodness right here.

Blueberry Vanilla Protein Smoothie Recipe:
2 scoops vanilla flavored protein
1 cup blueberries (frozen)
1 cup vanilla flavored almond milk
1 banana
Blend and there you will have yummy goodness!

3 Days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Until tomorrow...

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Recovery Gadgets

It's no secret that most parents do not get a sufficient amount of sleep. This graph is based on my new Fitbit Ultra Tracker. Fitbit tracks your sleep, your steps, calories burned and a list of other things that you can find on the Fitbit Ultra Tracker web site. The main selling point for me is tracking my sleep or lack of sleep.

There have been some issues that I have had to work through and part of my problem is lack of sleep. We are a family of five and we all seem to have different sleep schedules. I can put my kids to bed but they will wake up in the middle of the night. This particular party in the wee hours of the morning is Silly (our 3 year old) climbing into our bed. We are suppose to walk her back up the stairs and put her in her room. Easier said than done when you can barely function but it needs to happen! 8 times awakened people. It's not just her but our dogs wanted to go outside and my husband is up around 4am to go to work. WOW! A total of 4 hours and 16 minutes of sleep.

Yesterday - I wanted to catch a little nap. I was just so exhausted but look what happened!

No wonder I'm still tired! I got to nap a whole 22 minutes. Our 3 year old got out of school early and she wasn't having nap time. Must get proper rest and I think this new gadget is going to help work it out. I'm not sure how yet but I'm going to get there.

Another cool feature is that it's all wireless. All I have to do is walk up to my desk and my gadget gives all the information to my computer and it will calculate how many calories I've burned and how many more I can eat based on my food log. I can't wait to start working out again so I can get more information on my activity.

 

This is how you bring SEXY back!

I've got two of those sleep supports for my my poor messed up feet. Apparently my lumbar sprain has my body alignment so messed up it's just traveling. My body mechanics are messed up! Not sure how to get that x-ray exported yet but I will so you can share in the fun of my not so straight spine. 

The first night I wore those foot supports and took Ibuprofen I actually woke up without any pain in my feet. That's the last time that happened. Having flat feet that pronate inward is NO fun. I actually ended up buying some heel cushion inserts because the heel pain was so bad. They are actually working! Whoo Hoo!!!

The lumbar back brace is helping out a lot especially when I have to stand for long periods of time. I'm not sure how long this recovery is going to take...58 days and counting. My husband has a ton of warehouse jokes for me. In the meantime, I'm waiting to hear about the results from the MRI I had yesterday. It would be nice if the universe would align and just allow me to go back out and play! I found someone to take my spot in the 1/2 marathon Mardi Gras race in Galveston. I'm a little less sad about it since it went to someone who appreciates it! I know there are more races, I just want to know when I will be back in them?

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Freebie Friday - Link Up #contests and prizes every Friday

Are you hosting a #contest? Great! Post it here on Freebie Friday. What better time to search and enter contests than on the weekend? Sign in so that others can find your giveaway. I will be hosting Freebie Friday each week from now on so be sure to drop back by. Now go grab your tasty beverage, sit back and relax and contest hop with me! Don't forget to check out these hosted contest links too.




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#30DayPaleoChallenge - Day 24 & 25

Only 5 days left! Yesterday I opened up that jar of peanut butter to make my Silly her favorite PB&J. This time it didn't have that sweet yummy smell, no! In fact, it's almost gone and all I could smell was oil. GAK! It's no longer appealing. I'm not sure what happened. Check out these latest goodies that caught my eye.

Those Loft House cookies are ridiculous! I love to eat those. The Valentines day cookies just look super cute and Nutter Buttter cookies are my favorite. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm baked goods.

This morning I was so bored with eggs that I wanted to try something new!

Here is the recipe for Paleo Waffles:
1.5 cup almond flour
1/4 almond milk ( I used vanilla flavored)
2 large eggs
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
Dash cinnamon to taste ( I used 1 tsp cinnamon)

-Preheat your waffle iron
-Whisk eggs and milk
-Add dry ingredients
-Mix until smooth
You can top with almond butter or fresh fruit (I have yet to find almond butter)

Don't they look yummy? But how do they taste? Like GAK!!!!!!!! Flash backs to the apple banana muffins I made that looked and smelled delicious too. I'm now convinced that anything made with almond flour is going to have less flavor than a cardboard box. Please, don't take my word for it. Make them yourself and if you find flavor or have altered the recipe to create flavor let me know! I'm willing to try it. None of my kids liked them either. I thought maybe the strawberries would help but seriously! Why ruin a perfectly good strawberry?

Remember that mango ice cream? I tried the same recipe but with mixed fruit this time. It wasn't sweet at all so after it thawed out I threw it back in the blender and added a banana. Bingo! much better.

Recipe:
 1 cup almond milk (no flavor), 1 cup mixed fruit, 1 banana, blend and freeze.

Whoo Hoo!!!! Almost there folks.


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#WordlessWednesday - Lego Party at The Kramers

You're never too old for Legos!

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#30DayPaleoChallenge - Day 22 & 23

I can make it 7 more days I promise! If I haven't cheated by now I'm pretty sure it's a done deal. There has been enough emotional stress to break me already but I didn't break. :)

Here is that crock pot roast that we made. I added some carrots and celery to the mix and guess what?

It's Kid Approved!

This is the pineapple chicken. I wish I could say I was fan but I'm not. My chicken got too dry. Maybe overcooked too much in the crock pot????

I had to go with my back up plan, lettuce wraps. This time I added that guacamole salsa on top! WOW was that awesome. It was a perfect topping. In a few minutes I'm gonna go make another one. lol

Today was a super busy day! It's days like these when the protein shakes come in handy. I had chocolate powder so I came up with this one.

Chocolate Banana Smoothie
1 scoop chocolate
1 cup Almond milk (non flavored)
2 Bananas
YUM!!!!!

I'm sure I put some ice in there but I can't remember. I think it works either way. Only 7 days left and I've rocked another challenge. Feels good.


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